


To Trust A Nightmare

by Otletes



Category: Undertale
Genre: Anger, Anxiety, Crying, Error is Tired, Error needs a hug, Everyone Has Issues, Fear, Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Ink is a dick, M/M, More tags will be added later, Night Terrors, Nightmare is a good guy, Panic Attacks, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Harm, Talking, that they refuse to talk about
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 19:16:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18037265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otletes/pseuds/Otletes
Summary: Error has been alone longer than he cares to think about. He's been insane longer than he likes to think about as well, but now he's come back from that insanity. He knows that he has to continue destroying, for the sake of the multiverse, so he's accepted that he will always be alone, in his cold white space. One day though he finds himself watching Nightmare and his gang, it becomes his new favorite pass time. He can't remember much of the dark skeleton, but watching him now, he can't help, but wonder... could this be a group that he'd be accepted in? A  place where he could have a family? ... Find love? Or will he fall back into insanity and remain alone?





	1. It's Not Stalking I swear!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic, and I have not edited this at all, yet. It was inspired my Harrish6's work 'Healing What Has Been Broken' and the various works of SkylerSkyhigh and xXUndertale_loverXx. This is mostly just me slapping an idea onto a page and posting it because I thought others may enjoy it. This fic may go through several edits or I may just leave it, only time will tell. Enjoy!

Error didn’t have a lot going for him. Actually he had nothing at all going for him. At times he thought he should have just stayed insane. It would have made his job and his life easier. But he also knew that his insanity wasn’t something he wanted to return. Everything from that time was muddled and hard to focus on. Not to mention the unnecessary suffering he’d caused in those days.

He shook his head to distract himself from his negative thoughts. Not that there was actually anything to distract him. He rubbed at his eye sockets and considered his options. He didn’t have much of anything. He could sit around the Anti-void doing nothing, watch Undernovela, maybe make a puppet, or leave. Not that leaving was really an option. He’d have to dodge Ink, Dream, and any other Sans’ he came across. He didn’t really show himself now that he wasn’t completely unhinged, but he knew that Ink had warned all of the AUs even the ones that he’d never been to.

So other than when he needed to destroy AUs, to keep the balance of the multiverse, he never left the Anti-void. Whenever he wanted to get a chocolate bar or something he’d just open a small portal to an Underfell AU and steal it from Red. Usually he picked the original, but sometimes he would branch out, but messing with the original Red was just too fun. Well, at least it used to be, now it was more habit than anything.

Error let out a long drawn out sigh just to have some kind of noise in the empty space. He kind of wanted to go to an Outertale and look at the stars, but he wouldn’t. The Outertale Sans’ were more vigilant than the others because Ink had noticed that he liked to spend time in those AUs.

Despite his love of Undernovela he wasn’t really in the mood for it and he already had so many dolls, he didn’t want to make anymore. So… what should he do? Letting out another sigh he flicked his hand opening a few one way portals to several different AUs, looking for something to entertain him.

Mostly it was just a bunch of random AUs and so far nothing was really grabbing his attention. He caught sight of Ink and Dream. He knew Dream was one of the more powerful beings out there, since he was the guardian, god, whatever you wanted to call him, of positivity. He was a pain in the ass to fight. But seeing him reminded Error of Nightmare.

Very fuzzily he remembered the god of negativity. He frowned as he tried to remember more about him, but the only interactions he’d had with the other were when he was in the depths of his insanity. With his curiosity peaked he closed the rest of the portals and opened one with the intention of finding Nightmare. Luckily for him, being the god of destruction gave him some perks for when he was looking for something or someone specific.

Error blinked in surprise when he found Nightmare sitting in a living room with several Sans’ around him. They looked to be enjoying each other’s company as they chatted amicably. He tried to remember everything he knew about the god of negativity, not that there was a lot, but what he could remember was that Nightmare was a loner that used people. So… what was going on? How much had he missed?

He leaned forward to watch, hoping maybe he would be able to figure the mystery out. He examined the Sans’ wondering which ones they were. There was Dust, Killer, Horror, and Cross. Sans’ that had been cast out by the others because they were deemed ‘evil’ or too dark by everyone else. He knew their stories and that all of them were pushed to the edge by their circumstances. They didn’t deserve the treatment they received. No wonder Nightmare had decided to associate himself with them.

Nightmare was reading a book, Killer seemed to be carving something from a block of wood and Horror, Dust, and Cross were all playing some kind of card game. Curiously, Error moved his perspective from the five skeletons to the universe they were in. It appeared to be either a half finished AU or a half destroyed one, it was surrounded by so much negativity that Dream wouldn’t be able to see/sense anything through it. Ink would probably also have a hard time seeing through it, another perk of being the god of destruction rather than the god of creation, he supposed.

Going back to the group he… watched. He knew it was probably creepy and they wouldn’t appreciate it, but it was the first thing that had caught his attention in a while. So he ignored the fact that he was acting like a stalker in favor of actually having something that interested him. So, he watched.

 

 

The next day Nightmare and his gang were training. Dust and Horror started off the sparring, showing why they were both very capable with their chosen weapons. The two cut each other up a bit, but not enough to be in any danger. Cross and Killer’s fight was much the same way, and once the fighting was over Nightmare was immediately tending to all of their wounds and praising their skills.

When they left the training room Horror made a rather impressive meal, that made even Error want to give it a try. The meal passed with lots of bickering and jokes. Afterwards they all apparently decided to watch a scary movie, which they had fun picking apart and laughing at.

The five were like a family. A pretty dysfunctional family, but still a family. The longer he watched them, the more he realized, he was jealous. Nightmare was hated, just like him, but he’d managed to find people that cared for him. How was that fair? What had he done to deserve being all alone?

He felt bitter that they had each other and he had no one. Waving away the portal he got up and paced around, trying to calm down. It wasn’t Nightmare and his family’s fault so Error shouldn’t be angry at them. Really he wasn’t that angry at them, he was angry at his situation. He hated that he wasn’t able to be around people, and that if he did try to be around others most of them would try to kill him.

Running a hand over his face he let out a sigh and reopened the portal to go back to watching them. He knew he shouldn’t, he knew that watching them would just make him feel worse. Watching them was still the only thing that could keep his attention, he also just wanted to see what they had that he didn’t.

He found himself grateful for his ~~stalking~~ watching, a few days later when the gang, minus Nightmare, got themselves into trouble. Nightmare had some business to attend to so the other four had decided to have some fun. Which had led to them going out to explore. They hadn’t even done anything wrong, just been running around and checking out the different AUs. The moment that Ink saw them though he’d grabbed a few Sans’ and attacked them. They were outnumbered and outclassed.

The four were managing to hold their own pretty well, but the moment that Ink stepped in it became obvious who was going to win. Error didn’t even pause once he realized they were going to be killed and stepped through the portal. He shot his strings out holding the other Sans’ back, giving Nightmare’s gang a chance to catch their breath.

“Error!” Ink immediately turned on his enemy, swinging his paintbrush at him.

Error dodged quickly, his concentration breaking and causing his strings to vanish. “InK,” he countered coolly. He glanced over at the skeletons he was trying to save to find that they were doing alright, but were starting to get overwhelmed. He dodged another attack, which annoyed Ink, like it always did. Thinking quickly he used his strings to grab the four skeletons, causing them to yelp, but before they could do anything else he yanked all of them through a portal before following quickly after.

Once they were all safe back in Nightmare’s base, Error was faced with the four confused skeletons, who were staring at him. He shifted uncomfortably at the attention and considered leaving without a word, but… “What’s going on here,” Nightmare asked, eye narrowed as he entered the room.

“FuCk,” Error muttered under his breath.


	2. Is help really an option?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error has a bad time.

Error tried to judge whether or not he’d be able to escape before Nightmare caught him, but one of the things he did remember about the other skeleton was that he was ridiculously fast. He could still give it a try, maybe he’d get lucky? Before he could actually put his plan into action though, Killer spoke up.

“We got into trouble, we made a stupid decision,” he and the others all looked embarrassed and ashamed, “and Error helped us.”

Nightmare’s eye flashed, but whatever emotions he was feeling were gone before Error could decipher them. “Well then, thank you, Error.” He nodded in thanks, but he also had a thoughtful look. Error did not appreciate the extra attention and shifted nervously. “What did the four of you do?”

Error blinked, happy that Nightmare’s focus wasn’t on him anymore, but was surprised that he would relax enough to chastise his gang in front of an outsider. “We were exploring,” Cross said hesitantly. 

“Exploring?” Nightmare sounded like he was on the verge of smacking all of them. “Where you at least being cautious?” The looks on all of their faces told Nightmare all he needed to know. “Stars damned fools,” he growled. “You’re lucky Error was there to help you.”

There were muttered apologies from all of them. “Thank you, Error,” Cross mumbled, causing the others to thank him as well.

Error felt his magic rush to his face, turning it yellow. He shrugged, hoping that they would accept that and not ask him why he’d been there in the first place. He should really just leave, he wasn’t needed, they probably didn’t want him around and were just putting up with him because he’d saved them. He shoved his hands in his pockets, the blush fading at his bleak thoughts. 

Nightmare stepped closer to Error, causing the shorter skeleton to jerk and take a step back, he didn’t want to be touched. “I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need a favor, we owe you,” he said keeping his distance, respecting that the other didn’t want him to come any closer.

“oH. OkAy,” he would probably never actually ask for help, in fact he was surprised that Nightmare was even offering it to him. He didn’t deserve it. “WelL… i’M lEaVinG.” Before any of them could react he (ran away) stepped through a portal. 

Once he was in the Anti-void he let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t really thought about what would happen when he’d saved Killer, Cross, Dust, and Horror, he just reacted. He should have known that something like that would happen. He was about to open a portal to go back to watching Nightmare and the others, but he paused. Somehow it felt more… invasive now. He let himself fall to his ass and just stared off into the white nothing. What should he do? He didn’t know anymore. Dropping his head into his hands he did nothing.

 

Nightmare was a bit startled by Error’s sudden retreat, but the other had always been on the reclusive side, but he wasn’t usually that quiet. Then again he hadn’t seen the god of destruction in a long time, it seemed that he wasn’t the only one that had changed. 

“Well… that was weird,” Horror said with a raised brow. 

“Error’s always been more of a loner,” Dust shrugged it off.

“But usually he’s more…” Killer waved his hand in a vague motion.

“Energetic?” Horror suggested.

“Yeah. But he was really quiet. Wonder why?”

“Well… he seemed nice enough?” Cross was the only one of the group that had never met Error directly so he no basis for how the other skeleton normally acted. 

“He’s changed,” Nightmare agreed. It made him wonder. For a long time he’d tried to get Error to team up with him, but had never been able to convince him. Then when he’d started to feel positive emotions again, his goals and priorities had changed. It’d gone from spreading his negativity and attempting to take over the multiverse to keeping the balance and protecting his gang. Error had been too erratic and unpredictable for him to safely bring into his group. But now? He’d have to see how much Error had changed, maybe he’d join them?

“You did know him best,” Dust agreed. “I think I only talked to him like… maybe three times? Two of those I was pretty far gone,” he grimaced as he remembered his stint into insanity. 

Cross wrapped his arms comfortingly around his friend. Dust leaned into the embrace happy to the support. “Do you think he’ll come around again?” Cross looked at Nightmare curiously.

“Honestly? I have no idea,” he admitted, secretly though, he hoped that Error would come back. He was curious about the skeleton he used to know. He’d learn who Error was again and whether or not he would be a good addition to his group. And if it turned out he hadn’t actually changed… well he’d cross that bridge when he got to it. 

 

Error spent the next few… days? Weeks? (time moved differently in the Anti-void and he never could keep track of it) sulking around the Anti-void. He didn’t watch Nightmare and his gang, not wanting to invade their privacy. Then again what would have happened if he hadn’t been watching? Actually he knew the answer to that, Ink would have killed them. So should he keep watching them? Keep an eye on them? But why should he? It wasn’t like they cared about him or would do the same if they had the opportunity.  
He violently shook his head and glanced down at the puppet he was making. He flushed yellow as he stared at the little Nightmare puppet he now held. Letting out a sigh he leaned over and set his head on his knees. He shouldn’t be acting like this. He’d watched other AUs before, but why’d he get so attached to this one? Why’d he get involved?

The silence of the Anti-void was really starting to grate on him so he opened a portal to Undernovela. Unfortunately no matter what kind of drama seemed to be going on he just couldn’t bring himself to care. He wanted to know what Nightmare and his gang were up to, he wanted to make sure all of them were alright, but he forced himself not to. He needed to redirect his focus. 

He paused in his sewing to look down at the puppets he had made. There was now a little Horror, Killer, Dust, and he was just finishing up a Cross puppet. “UgH!” He set the new puppet down next to the others and rubbed at his face. He stood and walked away from the little group of puppets he had made.

Taking a deep breath he decided to go out and destroy some AUs. He’d been letting Ink create too much lately, he’d have to destroy a lot more than usual if he was going to keep the balance. Ink would be pissed, hopefully a fight would help him to regain his focus. Nodding to himself he was happy to have a plan of action and quickly made his way to an AU to start on his rampage.

He made it through six and a half AUs before Ink showed up, just as mad as he thought he’d be, he didn’t even say anything just attacked. The fight was intense, Ink didn’t pull any punches, to the point that the half destroyed AU crumbled around them. That actually surprised Error since Ink usually took great care to not let his AUs get destroyed. He must have been more pissed than Error had originally thought. 

As the AU crumbled the two gods lept to another, continuing their fight. Error had never seen Ink acting like this before and it was… worrying to say the least. Before Error could figure out what was going on with the creator he was hit from behind by one of Dream’s arrows. He was stunned for a moment and Ink took full advantage it, hitting him with his paintbrush.

Error found himself surrounded by several different Sanses who were quick to start attacking him. They must have planned this, there was no way all of them had just happened to be there. He lashed out with his strings, but Ink and Dream managed to destroy them before he could attack any of the other, more fragile Sanses. 

He couldn’t hold back his pained screams as they continued beating on him. He wondered if they were trying to kill him. They probably didn’t know that it was impossible, so they would just keep hurting him. He started to glitch erratically and error signs filled his eyes, blinding him. He shook as more hits rained down on him. Trying to think through the pain and the static in his head. He needed to escape, but they were too close, if he opened a portal they would just follow him. How else could he get away though? 

Shaking, he thought of a plan, it would hurt, but if it worked he’d be able to escape. Bracing himself he raised his hand forming his magic into several bones that shot up out of the ground, many of them shooting through him, causing his attackers to jump back or risk getting hit. He quickly opened a portal, falling through it into the Anti-void.

He let out a cry of pain as he landed. He quickly cut off his cries, breathing hard he waited, hoping that no one had managed to follow him. He was still blind, but after a few moments of not hearing anything he let himself relax minimally. He attempted to push himself into a sitting position, but found that both of his arms were too broken to support him. Slowly, sobs started to build, his entire body shook with them as he laid there, letting himself feel the pain coursing through every bone. Everything hurt. 

He was blind.

He was alone. 

Never before had he hated being alone as much as he did in that moment. He’d never wanted to have someone in his life more than right then. His mind flashed to Nightmare, his gang, and the favor that Nightmare said they owed him. 

Should… should he go to Nightmare and ask for help? Would they actually help him? He doubted it, but… did he really have anything to lose at this point? 

His eyes cleared a little and he found himself staring at the puppets he’d made. He could go to them. If they didn’t help then he would at least know there was no reason to keep focusing on them and if they did help… He didn’t know what he’d do, but at that point anything would be better than bleeding alone in the Anti-void. 

So gathering his magic and not letting himself think too much on what he was doing he opened a portal to the half destroyed AU the gang called home and fell through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still just kind of throwing my thoughts onto the page, but I'm enjoying writing it. Next chapter is going to be mostly from Nightmare's point of view as the gang try to help the severely broken skeleton.   
> What do you think of the story so far? Are you enjoying it? Do you have any questions? Leave a review.


	3. Get all of the Medical equipment!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare and co. do everything they can for Error. Error proceeds to then freak out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I would like to give a bit of a heads up now that this story is really starting to form in my head. All of the characters are loosely based on their canon counter parts, they're similar in some ways but are wildly different in many others. For example, in this story Nightmare has retained his violet eye and isn't quite as... goopy, as he usually is, he also has six tentacles rather than four. Also a lot of their backstories are different, again based on what the original creators did, but twisted to fit my means for this story. I do promise that you'll get more of each of their backstories at some point, but I'm just letting you know now, I'm taking inspiration from all over the place for this story and adding in whatever my brain decides would be good for the story. So we'll see where this all goes together, because honestly? At this point I'm not even all that sure.

Nightmare looked up from his book when he heard a thump. He jumped up from the couch when he saw Error laying on the ground bleeding and looking like he was about two seconds from passing out. He rushed over to the fallen skeleton and paused, his hands hovering not knowing what to do. Error looked like he was about to dust at any second, but that was impossible, so he must be in an unimaginable amount of pain.

“Shit.”

“SoRRy. DIdN’t… knOw WHEre… tO go.”

“Don’t apologize,” he snapped, as he gently lifted the bleeding skeleton into his arms his tentacles coming around them defensively. Error glitched violently and flinched away from his touch. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just trying to get you to a bed.” He quickly made his way from the living room down the hall to one of the guest rooms. He set the hurt god into the bed and scowled as the sheets were immediately stained with the other’s marrow. “I’m going to be right back. Don’t try to move,” he demanded before hurrying off to get help to heal the other.

He darted down the hall to Killer’s room and knocked loudly. It was only a few moments before the door was yanked open and he was faced with an annoyed Killer. “What the fu-”

Nightmare cut the other off before he could finish. “Gather all of the healing items we have and meet me in the guest room at the end of this hall as quickly as possible.”

Killer froze for just a second as his mind raced. “Who…?”

“Error.” Killer blinked in surprise at the answer, but before he could react further Nightmare was making his way to Cross’s room. Those two would be the best for helping him stabilize the glitchy skeleton. When Cross answered the door he just hummed sleepily, wondering what was going on. “Error is hurt, he’s in the guest room at the end of the hall.”

Cross blinked once before he seemed to properly wake up. “I’ll grab some healing-”

“Killer is already grabbing them. Come with me.” They hurried down the hall together and into Error’s room. Luckily the wounded skeleton hadn’t moved much, he’d just curled in on himself and appeared to have passed out.

“What happened?” Cross’s eye-sockets were wide as he stared at the heavily bleeding skeleton.

“I don’t know,” Nightmare said with a shake of his head. “But if I had to guess? I’d say Ink.”

Killer all but burst into the room, his arms full of healing items. “I got everything I could find.” His eyelights shrunk in shock when he noticed how hurt Error was. “Fuck…” He set all of the items down on the bedside table. “We don’t see him for like… what? A month? And he shows up covered in wounds! Shit…” He gently started to peel off Error’s sweatshirt and T-shirt to get a better look at his ribs.

The moment the clothing was out of the way the three other skeletons flinched. Error’s ribs looked like they were only being held together by his magic and that they would cave in at any second. It wasn’t just his ribs either, his arms were covered in enough cracks and knicks it was amazing that he could move them. “J-jeez…” Cross gasped.

“Do… we even have enough healing items for this?” Killer looked like he was going to be sick.

Nightmare swallowed back his own feelings on seeing such grievous injuries for the sake of his gang. “Whether we have enough items or not Error wont die from this. He’s half of the balance. We’ll use what we have and if we need to, we’ll get more tomorrow.” He grabbed a container of healing paste and started applying it to the worst of the injuries he could find.

Cross and Killer were quick to get to work where they could. They quickly discovered that they had to remove the rest of Error’s clothes. They didn’t want to invade his privacy, but healing him was more important than that so they removed his sneakers, and shorts. His legs were in just as poor a state as the rest of him. Within the hour they were out of healing items and Error was looking more like a mummy than a skeleton. They would definitely need to raid an AU for supplies, especially since Error was already bleeding through the bandages.

“Dammit,” Killer hissed. “Do you want me to take Dust and Horror on a raid?”

Nightmare thought about it for a few moments. “No. You and Dust will be enough. Horror’s the best at cooking. The more we can get him to heal with food the better.” He scowled, once again cursing the fact that he and his gang were not in any way, good at healing. Then again, looking down at Error, he was sure even expert healers would have a hard time. “You both should go rest for a little while. We’re going to be busy for the next few days. Killer, in three hours I want you to take Dust and stealthily raid an AU with good healing items. Cross I want you to tell Horror what’s going on and help him with any cooking, but I also want you to be ready if I need you in here.”

“Got it,” Killer agreed before heading off to get a couple more hours of sleep.

Cross hesitated, his eyelights focused on Error for a moment before moving to Nightmare. “Have you slept at all? Because I sit with him if you need to get some sleep.”

A barely there smile flickered across Nightmare’s face. Cross was always the most considerate of his gang. “I’m fine Cross. Go to sleep.” Cross hesitated a moment longer before heading to his room. Nightmare set himself down in a chair next to the bed and stared at their guest

He wasn’t sure what to think of the Destroyer showing up out of nowhere. He was kind of happy that the other had shown up, what he wasn’t happy about though was the state he was in. Would Error have even come if he wasn’t so hurt? He shook his head to clear it, but he couldn’t help making contingency plans for if Error attempted to attack them. He scowled at his own thoughts, but he knew that he had to be prepared.

Error had always been a loose cannon. The only thing that one could really guarantee was that he would destroy AUs, other than that, it depended on his mood. Nightmare would rather have the Destroyer on his side than get into fights with him. Even now that he had changed.

He glanced at the bed and paused when he found Error’s eyes opening. “WHa… whERE aM… i?”

Nightmare got to his feet and leaned in a little so that the wounded skeleton could see him without moving. “You’re in my castle. You showed up a couple of hours ago. Do you remember?”

Error blinked slowly, trying to process the information. “Y-yEah…” He was eyeing Nightmare warrily.  
Part of Nightmare wanted to be offended, but he didn’t let himself. Error was hurt, he was allowed to be wary when he was so vulnerable. “How are you feeling? We patched you up the best we could, but we ran out of healing items.”

“I… I’m fINe.”  
Nightmare didn’t believe that for a moment. “Mm-hm. You sure?”

“yeAh. i’Ll bE oUT Of yOuR waY AS sOOn aS poSsiBlE.” He started to push himself up and Nightmare was quick to push him back down, not wanting him to hurt himself. The moment his hands touched the other though, he was jerking back and it was only Nightmare’s quick tentacles that kept him on the bed. Unfortunately this just caused Error to freak out more. “LEt gO! dON’t TouCH Me!”

He pulled Error a little farther from the edge and let go, holding his hands up in surrender. He did keep his guard up though, not sure what the destroyer was going to do now. “I’m not going to hurt you. And I’m not touching you.” Error had curled into himself the moment he could move, his arms wrapped around his legs and his head buried in his knees. “Error?” He noticed that several of the bandages were completely soaked through, Error had agitated his injuries. Cursing to himself Nightmare tried to think of something he could say or do to calm the distraught skeleton. “I won’t touch you. Not unless I need to. Okay?”

Error was breathing hard, but after a few minutes of nothing happening he started to relax. He peeked out from his arms to stare at Nightmare. “dOn’T tOuCH mE.”

“If I don’t have to I won’t. But we’re going to need to change your bandages and apply more healing paste.” He nodded to the bandages that were already soaked with his marrow. “And you won’t be able to do that on your own.”

He glitched violently, his sockets wide and his eyelights small. “D-d-DoN’T… pLEasE.”

Nightmare felt his soul jerk at the pleading tone to Error’s voice. “Error, I’ll do my best okay?” He wondered why the Destroyer was so adamant about not being touched, but he’d figure it out. “No one here is going to hurt you, I promise you that.” He hated making promises, but he hoped it would help calm him down.

Error hugged his knees tighter to his chest, but did nod a little in understanding. Nightmare let out a sigh of relief, but once the tense moment was over, he was reminded of the fact that Error wasn’t wearing anything and was quick to pull a blanket around him, making sure not to touch. “wHy Am i NaKEd?” He glitched again, looking like he was on the verge of another panic attack.

“You’re completely covered in wounds. We had to remove your clothes to get to everything. We were completely focused on your injuries.” He hoped that the explanation would calm the other down.

He trembled, but appeared to have calmed down a little. “wHErE arE My clOTheS?”

Nightmare used two tentacles to pick up the ruined clothes. “They’re right here. If you want something to wear we have clothes that you can use. These are too ripped up and bloodied.” As he spoke he opened the dresser in the room and pulled some clothes out.

Error didn’t even glance at the new clothes, he grabbed his hoodie. He reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a pair of glasses. After letting out a sigh of relief he set the hoodie down next to himself and hesitated, looking between his ruined clothes and the clothes that Nightmare was offering him. So Nightmare decided to make the choice easier by setting the new clothes on the bed next to Error and his old clothes in a corner to be dealt with later.

“Do you need help getting dressed?” He wasn’t sure he would be able to help if Error didn’t like being touched, but he also highly doubted that the other could get the clothes on by himself.

“i’lL bE fiNe,” was the expected response.

Nightmare sighed, but decided not to push the issue. He’d just stay close and help if need be. “Alright. If you insist. If you need any help just ask.” He turned away to give Error at least a little bit of privacy. He heard shifting and soft curses, he really wanted to just insist on helping, but if he pushed too hard the other could either attack or flee. Neither option was good so he remained firmly turned away from the wounded skeleton.

After a few more minutes, Error went quiet so Nightmare assumed that the Destroyer had managed to get the clothes on. He turned in time to see Error just finishing pulling on the shirt. It was a little odd seeing Error in a blue shirt and grey sweats rather than his normal red t-shirt, black pants with blue stitching and black and yellow hoodie. He did find himself thinking that the other still managed to look alright in the new clothes and despite the bandages that covered most of his body. “You look more comfortable at least. But you still look tired. You should get some more sleep.”

Error narrowed his eye sockets suspiciously, but he looked about three seconds from passing out. “i’lL be FInE.”

He was starting to think that ‘fine’ was Error’s favorite word. “I don’t think you will be. You need to rest if you’re going to get better. And if you’re worried that we’re going to hurt you why did you even come here?” Error froze, his eyelights guttered out, and he started to glitch violently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the cliffhanger.  
> If you liked this chapter leave a review. If you had any thought at all really, leave a review.


	4. Missteps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Error struggles with the generosity shown to him and Nightmare tries to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait, I lost some motivation for this story and I got a new job. I'm back now though! Can't say that updates will be frequent, but I'm going to try.

_ “And if you’re worried that we’re going to hurt you why did you even come here?” Error froze, his eyelights guttered out, and he started to glitch violently.  _

 

POV Error 

Error felt himself start to panic. That was a valid question. Why had he come here? He should have stayed in the Anti-void. He  _ knew _ he shouldn’t have come here! His eyes filled with error signs, his ears filled with static, and he gripped at his head. He’d made a mistake. 

He didn’t know how long he panicked before he felt hands gripping at his arms, trying to pull them away from his head. He tried to pull away from the touch, his panic increasing. “L-LeT mE g-G-gO!” His magic started to form, but whoever was holding him somehow managed to suppress his magic. He didn’t even know that someone would be capable of doing that to him! 

“Error! Calm down! I’m not trying to hurt you! You’re okay, you’re safe!” He thought he recognized that voice, but he wasn’t sure. He felt one of the hands move from his wrist to his face. He tried to strike with his now free hand, but it was restrained by… a tentacle? “Error, you’re safe here. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry about touching you, but you were hurting yourself. You need to calm down.”

Nightmare. It was Nightmare holding onto him. What happened? It took him a moment, but he remembered his mistake. Or… was it a mistake? Nightmare and his gang had helped him. They had patched up his wounds and were letting him stay in a bed. Though Nightmare was still touching him, and he wasn’t too happy about that.

“i-I’m OkaY. P-pl-pLeaSe leT mE Go.”

“Are you sure?” He sounded unsure about letting the still glitching and blind skeleton go. 

“i’M oKaY noW.” Nightmare slowly let go of him and Error relaxed back against the headboard. He took a few deep breaths, his eyes started to clear, and his glitching slowed down. He glanced over at the other skeleton, who was watching him intently. 

“Do you need anything?”

“No. i’m fINe.” He shifted nervously and glanced around the room, looking unsure. “I… i’lL leAVe,” he suddenly said, looking like he was going to try and get up.

“Woah!” Before Error could try to get up Nightmare stood, holding his hands out, but not touching the other. “You’re hurt. You can’t just run off.” He looked like he wanted to grab the glitching skeleton to make him stay, but was resisting. 

“I’lL bE fINE,” Error insisted. 

“Error, you can barely move, you reopened several of your wounds earlier,” he looked pointedly at the bandages that were soaked with his marrow, “and you came here for help. We’re going to help you. You just have to let us.”

Error stared at the other skeleton, wondering what he should do. He hadn’t honestly thought that Nightmare and his gang would help him. He figured they would have laughed him out the door, but here he was, in one of their rooms, on one of their beds, covered in enough bandages he wondered if they had any left. Was it because of the favor? That had to be it, right? That had to be the only reason they were helping him. “yOu DOn’T owE mE aNYthINg. IF yoU wANT Me To lEAve thaT’s fINe.”

Nightmare stared at him blankly. This would be when he’d be kicked out, he almost let out a sigh of relief. He would know what to do in that case, things would go back to normal. He wouldn’t be so confused anymore. But he was wrong. “We’re not helping you because we owe you Error. We’re helping you because you came to us when you were hurt. You trusted us to help you, so that’s what we’re doing.” He stared intently at the slightly smaller skeleton. “We look after our own Error.”

He jerked, eye sockets wide and black. ‘We look after our own.’ How many times had he heard Nightmare say that? So many times he remembered it from his insane days. Why would… Error  _ wasn’t _ one of theirs though. He was on the outside. He’d  _ always _ been on the outside! So why was Nightmare acting like he was part of their group? “i-I-I-i’M nO-NoT.”

“Error?”

“i’M nOT OnE oF YOurS!”

 

POV Nightmare

Nightmare was startled by the sudden yell and the implication of his words. “Okay, okay. Calm down.” He didn’t want to send him into another panic attack, especially not so soon after the one he had before. He knew how exhausting and damaging those could be. Still though, that was not the reaction he’d been expecting, the members of his gang had all taken comfort in being part of group. Then again this was Error he was talking about, the other always had been a loner.

Error was taking deep breaths as he hugged himself and rocked back and forth. “I’m NoT, i’m nOT, i’M NOt.” He repeated over and over. 

Perhaps Nightmare had relaxed too soon, thinking Error hadn’t fallen into another panic attack. “What… happened?” He turned to the door to see Horror, whose eye-sockets were wide.

“Ink attacked him and now he seems to have fallen into another panic attack.” He let out a sigh and rubbed at his eyes. “Can you make some food for him?”

Horror looked at Error again looking worried. “Yeah… I’ll… yeah.”

As Horror left, Nightmare turned back to Error and let out a sigh. “Error! Calm down, please. You’re not in any danger here.” He kept up a steady stream of words until Error came back to himself. By that time Horror had come back with a blow of soup and a sandwich. 

“Here you go,” he set the food down next to the wounded skeleton. “Hope you like it.” 

Error stared blankly at the food, which started to worry Nightmare, would Error deny the food? “Thank you,” Error murmured before grabbing the bowl to start eating. 

Nightmare held in a relieved sigh and gave Horror a thankful nod. “Error, stay here until you’re better. We still owe you for helping them deal with Ink. So this is the least we can do.” He hoped that wording it like that would convince the other to stay.

“mM… i… GuEss I cAN STay.”

“Good.” Nightmare turned to Horror. “Are the others up?”

“Yeah. Killer and Dust left as I was cooking, I haven’t seen Cross yet, though.” He glanced at Error as he was finishing up his soup and starting on the sandwich. “Like it?”

“It’S gOOd,” Error said with a nod. “i hAVen’T EAteN liKe tHIs in A LOnG tiMe…”

Nightmare frowned, wondering what exactly Error meant by that. He’d find a way to ask without setting the other off later. “Can you go get Cross? And make sure he eats something.”

Horror snickered. “Knowing him he’d go all day without food. I’ll make sure he eat,” he promised as he left the room. 

Error watched Nightmare as he continued to eat, he didn’t appear to be all that wary of the other, which was… curious considering his reaction earlier. Perhaps it was the fact that the longer he was awake the more tired he was getting. He seemed about two minutes from passing out and his bandages were all completely soaked through at this point. Nightmare was going to have to change his bandages the second the others got back with more healing items. For the moment though they sat in a somewhat comfortable silence. 

“Nightmare!” Cross suddenly burst into the room, Horror not too far behind. “Oh… Error’s awake. That’s good.” The room descended into awkward silence as Error seemed to wake himself up from his somewhat dazed state.

“Yes Cross, Error is awake,” Nightmare said in amusement. “And as soon as the others are back we’re going to be re-treating his wounds.”

Cross looked back at Error, taking in all of the soaked through bandages and nodded in understanding. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Before Error could say whatever he was about to Nightmare beat him to it. “Now that’s where you’re wrong.” He glanced over at the skeleton on the bed. “Error doesn’t like being touched. He’s going to fight us every step of the way as we try to help him.” 

Error let out a huff. “tHEn doN’t BOthEr tRYing tO HElp Me.” 

Nightmare couldn’t help letting out a long suffering sigh. Error was going to be a pain until he got it through his thick skull that they were going to help him and not hurt him. “We’re going to help you,” he said firmly. Error let out a sigh and shook his head, but didn’t argue, perhaps he was starting to accept that he wouldn’t be convincing them to not help. Nightmare hoped that was the case. 

Cross looked between the two curiously. “Well… if you don’t need me I’m gonna… just… wait for the others.” He backed out of the room with a slightly awkward smile on his face.

Nightmare shook his head at the awkward retreat. “If you need anything all you need to do is ask.” He looked over at the other skeleton. “We’ll do what we can to help you.” Error looked rather confused at that, but nodded to indicate that he understood. It seemed that Error’s recovery was going to be long and filled with more roadblocks than Nightmare had initially thought, but he’d make it work. He’d managed it with the rest of his gang, he’d manage it with Error as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter Killer and Dust will return with more medical supplies, Nightmare will try to help Error change his bandages, and there's a bath bomb involved somewhere. If you liked this chapter comment/leave a kudos!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Leave a review if you had any thoughts about it!


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